‘RHOBH’ Recap: Sutton and Reba Is the Episode Real Housewives Needed

The Real Housewives franchise is one of frivolous fights, bombastic parties, and bougie trips. It’s an escapist destination where worldly worries fall right to the wayside. And that’s why heartfelt episodes like tonight’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills hit even harder.

Tucked between glass throws and increasingly confusing brand launches, sometimes you get a haunting portrait of a lady on fire.

Henry David Thoreau once said, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” That same quote is weaponized against Susan Meyer in the pilot episode of Desperate Housewives, to which she ponders, “So what do women lead, lives of noisy fulfillment?”

That’s all for me to say to those of you who scoff at Real Housewives articles and bully a Salt Lake City journalist for bringing some real art into his newspaper’s coverage: Consider that your closed minded, trite approach to the world is nothing but faux-progressivism that stifles the stories of women.

Anyway, this week on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, the curious case of Sutton Stracke started to click even further into place, in moments big and small. There are so many great character notes on this Augusta trip, like that Reba has two types of ice in her kitchen and only uses one.

It’s that kind of hardened exterior that creates a character like Sutton. You don’t just wake up one day as the eclectic owner of a random boutique who chews bird like a food. It’s all nurture, with just a dash of nature for good measure.

Every moment in Augusta is one I’ll think of for years to come. From Kyle eating her grits in paralyzed fear to Reba correcting Sutton on the year her childhood home was built, this psychological thriller takes viewers in directions never seen before. Meeting a Housewife’s mother is always such a treat. It pulls back the wool on these carefully crafted facades and gives us scenes like “Heather Dubrow’s mom bullies a waitress at the Nobu in New York City.”

Who else would say “Oh horrors, no!” but the Southern mother of a Real Housewife?

Sutton’s visit to her childhood home is absolutely harrowing in so many ways. It’s a heartbreaking scene, the rare Housewives moment that brings a tear to your eye. And it’s one of the utmost camp, as Sutton remarks it’s “the last step for me in my healing journey” and I gasped like I just saw a celebrity on the street. Whitney Rose’s impact knows no bounds.

As Sutton shares the story of her last visit with her dad, that horrible feeling of regret that accompanies loss seeps through. It’s just a remarkably sad scene, one that tugs on the heartstrings and reminds us how fragile is our place on Earth.

The other women pondering why they weren’t invited on the trip do look a bit silly and insensitive in light of such a vulnerable subject, as does Erika’s claim from earlier this year that Sutton doesn’t share her life on screen. It’s certainly a funny contrast given that Erika’s solo footage this season has amounted to “yayyyy I’m remodeling my new house!”

Of course, women being grossly insensitive is the name of the Housewives game. After all, it was Sutton who said she’s “been putting out fires all day, too” in response to Dorit being burglarized at gunpoint. It’s always nice to be reminded that people are multifaceted.

For, just a scene later, Sutton’s melting down about her mother getting the wrong ingredients for the crab cakes—and I get it. Something about the South makes a woman want to chew that scenery like she’s vying for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work on Augusta, Osage County.

Maybe that’s why Kyle’s new confessional looks straight out of Dallas. The jumpscare that accompanies “Sutton’s a little on edge” as Kyle “D’andra Simmons” Richards pops on screen is one that got a real laugh out of me.

Really, Kyle’s presence on the trip is so necessary. No one understands an emotionally devoid, borderline narcissistic mother like the Richards sisters. Kyle’s dual fear and admiration for Reba comes through in her every word, and it’s a lovely reprieve from the Kyle vs. Dorit rollercoaster. Kyle, too, is a multifaceted woman, one who viewers know so well we often take her for granted. But when she’s good, she’s great.

Kyle and Garcelle also understand that when a capital m Mother stands before you, you should give that diva the appropriate space to serve. The final scene of the episode is a raw, awkward conversation between Sutton and Reba, one that offers such important insight into their dynamic.

Here, Sutton tells her mother that she doesn’t know if she’s proud of her, while Reba says “it’s so trite” to tell your kids you love them. This woman’s a therapist. Isn’t that cool?

Reba just has a fascinating aura to her. She’s scary, but she’s incredibly captivating. The way she says “Double-yuh, Double-yuh, post” will surely became a permanent member of my lexicon.

It’s really exciting that Reba accepts Sutton’s offer to come to her fashion show in Beverly Hills, too. Does this mean we’ll get more Reba and her Reba-isms shortly down the road? One can only hope.

I love that their relationship isn’t fixed with a bow, because that’s not life. This is a reality show, and the beautiful thing about the real world is all its nuances. The entire Augusta trip is such wondrous proof that reality TV can still be evocative, raw, and real at a time where much of the conceit is under attack. It’s so good that I don’t even care that the Reba vs. Garcelle feud was a bait-and-switch with no real fight.

And it’s scenes like this that make Bozoma’s solo footage this week seem so trite, to steal a world. Sure, on its face, Boz sitting with her teenager daughter Lael to discuss the prospect of having another kid is a fascinating scene. The problem is that it plays off more like a workplace one-on-one than a true conversation between a mother and daughter.

Boz is a great addition in group dynamics, but sometimes, her corporate background lends itself to a certain rigidness in her solo scenes. She understands quite well that Bravo is a workplace, and she’s going to keep us at an arm’s length. I respect it, but that level of self-awareness has its limitations.

It’s kind of the reason why the pivot to Housewives being aspirational role models is such a slippery slope. We’ll always need women like Sutton on our screens, advocating for a woman’s right to speak before she thinks. Who else would design and release the Garcelle “if you wanna be a lesbian, be a lesbian” shirt? I hope that was displayed at the fashion show. Surely, Reba would finally tell Sutton just how proud she is.

We should all be proud of Sutton for proving exactly how rare exemplary Housewives are, and how lucky we are to have one on our screens every Tuesday. Next week, we get to return to the beautiful chaos as Sutton takes on Dorit and Boz, Garcelle and Boz scuffle, and Dorit gets into it with Kyle, once again. But those moments wouldn’t mean anything without the emotional stakes episodes like tonight’s bring.